Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

After the long weekend, we catch back up with the world of manufacturing today with stories ranging from a lack of new home buyers to new safety regulations for the Keystone pipeline. On to the links:

• Market Place has a story taking a look at the lack of first-time home buyers. An all-time high of 43% of home sales in the first quarter in 2014 were done in straight cash deals.
• A surprise up-tick in orders of durable goods has economists optimistic about the US economy. The LA Times reports that there was an increase in orders by 0.8% last month, when initial forecasts predicted a 0.8% drop off. The main increase came from the transportation equipment and military aircraft industries.
• Beechcraft and Wichita State University are teaming up to give under-graduate engineering students a chance to get valuable work experience. Manufacturing.net has the story on the relationship, that has helped Beechcraft in engineering hours, and helped students get jobs, sometimes before they even graduate.
• IMPO Magazine has the latest on two new regulations for the controversial Keystone Pipeline. The regulations include hiring a third-party contractor, chosen by the safety agency, to monitor and report on the pipeline construction, while the second regulation has TransCanada adopt a detailed quality control procedure.
• The newly elected Prime Minister of India plans on adding solar power to homes across India by 2019. Bloomberg notes that roughly 400 million people in India live in homes without any electricity, and that solar panels could potentially light two bulbs, a solar cooker, and a television in each home.

That’s it for your special Tuesday edition of MMRU. Here’s to a productive start to your week.